Music Industry Management Teaching Staff

Our teaching staff

Dennis Collopy - Senior Lecturer

Senior Lecturer Dennis' music industry career spans four decades, including stints at Chrysalis Music, RCA Records, Riva Music (signing the Clash, Rod Stewart and John Mellencamp and spending 5 years running the USA companies), BMG Music Publishing, EG Group, a spell at Big Life Music and finally establishing his own firm Menace Music in 1992.

Menace has since worked with a wide and diverse range of successful artists and producers as well as representing many eminent USA and UK songwriters. Since 2003 Menace Music has had a worldwide co-venture agreement with Universal Music Publishing. Dennis has also served on the board of a number of music industry bodies including the Performing Rights Society (PRS) and the Music Publishers Association (MPA).

Since taking an MA at the University of Westminster in 2003 he has taught music management, music publishing and IP Law at various academic institutions throughout the UK.

In 2009 he co-founded the Music and Entertainment Industries Research Group (MEIRG) at the University of Hertfordshire and in 2011 co-founded EMBRA (the European Music Business Research Association). He is also co-editor of the International Journal of Music Business Research and completed a comprehensive research study for the Intellectual Property Office in 2013.

Andy Saunders - Lecturer

Andy Saunders is a Lecturer on the MEIM programme at the University of Hertfordshire. After graduating in 1987 Andy starting work at a small independent record company, his first job in a career that would see him working for almost 25 years at a senior level in the British music industry.

After a 10-year tenure as Director of Communications at Creation Records, where he worked with such artists as Oasis, Primal Scream, My Bloody Valentine and many others, Andy launched Velocity Communications in 2000, which remains one of the UK's leading corporate PR and marketing companies specialising in music industry work.

His current clients include industry trade organisations, record labels, digital music companies, artist managers, music publishers and major conference and festival events. Andy is also a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Sharon Farquhar - Lecturer

Sharon is the MEIM programme's law specialist. After qualifying as a solicitor in 1988 Sharon worked in litigation until 1990, when she moved to Sheridans, a leading London-based entertainment and media law firm and became a partner there two years later.

Sharon's areas of specialism in practice revolved around litigation in the music and computer and video games industry, with particular emphasis on copyright and contractual issues, defamation, Press Complaints commission and anti-competition disputes. Sharon represented numerous high profile clients including Pink Floyd, Paul McCartney, Barclay James Harvest, Sega Europe and Peer Music.

She was also a retained solicitor advising the Press Complaints Commission. Sharon joined the University of Hertfordshire in 2002 and lectures MEIM students on Entertainment Law, Media Law in the Digital Age and Contract law.

Peter Jenner - Visiting Professor

A visiting Professor of Music and Entertainment Industry Economics at the University of Hertfordshire, Peter gained a First Class Honours Degree at Cambridge University before becoming a Lecturer at the London School of Economics at the age of 21.

His career in academia lasted 4 years after which he left to devote his attention to managing an up-and-coming modern music group that had caught his attention. The band's name was Pink Floyd. Peter then put on a series of free concerts in London's Hyde Park, which culminated with The Rolling Stones in 1969. The list of clients he has worked with reads like a who's who of musical successes. He has managed T Rex (fronted by Marc Bolan), Ian Dury, Roy Harper, The Clash, The Disposable Heroes of Hiphopracy, Robyn Hitchcock and Baaba Maal.

Peter has managed Billy Bragg's career for more than 15 years and also manages Eddi Reader (the voice of Fairground Attraction). He is also chairman of the IMMF (International Music Managers Forum), a director of the UK MMF (Music Managers' Forum), a council member of AURA (Association of United Recording Artists) and a director of Artspages.

Fred Bolza – Lecturer

Fred is Vice President, Strategic Development, Sony Music UK, and currently teaches music industry marketing at the University of Hertfordshire.

He is responsible for the development of Sony Music's strategy in the UK and runs an in-house marketing services agency that helps labels connect artists with the widest possible audiences.

Fred previously worked as a strategist at PRS for Music and as a management consultant advising ISP's, mobile operators and media companies. He also regularly DJ's, writes about music and used to be in a band. He is considered one of the leading 'thought leaders' in the UK music industry.

Maria Thomas – Senior Lecturer

Maria is an Arts Manager, Artistic Director of the Music Workshop Company and Senior Lecturer at Hertfordshire Business School, University of Hertfordshire. Maria won the Enterprise Educators Award at the National Enterprise Educators Awards 2012 as part of Team Venture from the University of Hertfordshire.

Having a range of qualifications including BMus(Hons) and MBA along with 13 years experience, Maria has both theoretical and practical knowledge and understanding of music and business. Maria brings together her experiences working with Arts organisations, running her own business and lecturing in Business to offer management and business support for musicians.

Her passion is working with inspirational artists to create innovative projects that excite musicians and audiences alike. Maria studied at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance.

Bruce Aisher – Senior Lecturer

Bruce cut his teeth in the mid-nineties dance music scene at Cheeky Records with production luminary Rollo, which lead to him working on Dido's platinum-selling 'No Angel' album, where he provided all manner of synth twiddling and keyboard choppery.

As one half of house duo 'Brancaccio & Aisher' he went on to have a string of club hits for the likes of Bedrock, Parlophone and his own Player One Records. 'B&A' are perhaps best know for 'It's Gonna Be... (A Lovely Day)' which reached No.1 in the US Billboard Club Chart and became a UK Top 40 hit.

Later, Bruce formed the band Suicide Sports Club, with the intention of taking his studio-based electronic music into the live arena. Their album 'Electric Mistress' was released in 2006 and toured with live performances at V-Festival, Electric Gardens, Fabric, Herbal, Bedrock and Creamfields in Buenos Aires. SSC's music went on to be featured in the movie soundtrack to US box-office smash 'The Invisible' and hit CBS TV series 'Num3ers'.

More recently Bruce has been writing and producing songs for his new band 'Go Control', with an album due later in the year. He has a successful solo club alter-ego 'Gutterstylz', with tracks and remixes for Armada, Poker Flat, Bedrock, Renaissance, Ego, Burrito, Mashtronic, MofoHifi, Alternative Route, Morrison and others.

Bruce has lent his sound design skills to products from Native Instruments, Clavia and SampleMagic, and is a regular contributor to Future Music magazine, with a monthly Cubase column, hardware and software reviews, and specialist articles.

He joined the University of Hertfordshire in 2007 and delivers a wide range of music technology-related topics at undergraduate and postgraduate level.